5.  The applicant was born in 1955 and lives in Focșani.
6.  As administrator of four commercial companies, the applicant concluded several contracts with different commercial companies for the supply of merchandise. In payment for the merchandise the applicant issued several cheques.
7.  On an unspecified date a criminal investigation was initiated against the applicant for fraud in connection with the cheques issued for the payment of the merchandise.
8.  On 24 June 2003 the prosecutor’s office attached to the Vrancea County Court informed the applicant, in his capacity as administrator of one of the four companies, that the criminal investigation initiated against him was going to be discontinued because the elements of the offence of fraud were missing.
9.  On 3 July 2003 one of the sellers lodged a criminal complaint against the applicant, accusing him of fraud (înşelăciune) under Article 215 of the Criminal Code (as in force at the material time) for having issued cheques and promissory notes without holding the necessary funds in the companies’ accounts and after the companies’ accounts had been frozen.
10.  On 8 September 2003, the prosecutor ordered criminal proceedings to be instituted against the applicant on charges of fraud. The investigation took place in the absence of the applicant, who had left the country on 25 June 2003.
11.  According to documents submitted by the applicant, his wife instituted divorce civil proceedings against him. By a final judgment of 20 October 2003 the Focșani District Court allowed her claim and pronounced the divorce.
12.  On 13 November 2003, the prosecutor issued an indictment for aggravated fraud under Article 215 § § 1, 3 and 4 of the Criminal Code. The case was registered with the Vrancea County Court.
13.  The proceedings before the first-instance court took place in the applicant’s absence on the grounds that the applicant’s domicile abroad was unknown. The applicant was represented by I.B., a lawyer assigned by the court. In his final submissions before the court the latter maintained that the bill of indictment contained many errors because the investigation had been carried out in the applicant’s absence. His main argument was that the applicant had not committed the acts with the intention of deceive his business partners. In this respect he added that the applicant had continued to pay his debts. He contested the allegation that the cheques had been issued after his companies’ accounts had been frozen. Moreover, several cheques had been issued while the applicant was abroad. He also contested the amounts that the applicant allegedly had to reimburse to different creditors.
14.  On 13 May 2005 the Vrancea County Court found the applicant guilty of fraud and imposed a three-year prison sentence suspended on probation. It found that the applicant, in his capacity as administrator of four commercial companies had issued cheques after the companies’ accounts had been frozen and without holding the necessary funds in the companies’ accounts.
15.  Both the applicant and the prosecutor’s office appealed against the judgment. The applicant claimed, inter alia, that his defence rights had not been observed as he had not been notified about the accusations against him and had not been summoned by the investigating authorities to attend the hearing. In this respect, the applicant claimed that he had been unaware that criminal proceedings were pending against him. He admitted that his criminal file contained several reports stating that police officers had tried to find his whereabouts but he further contended that he had never been officially summonsed or informed about the charges against him. He also stressed that he had not intended to deceive his business partners and that his difficult financial situation had been the result of the cancellation of a public procurement contract with the Ministry of Defence. Moreover, he had continued to make payments to his creditors after leaving the country.
16.  During the appeal proceedings the applicant was represented by a lawyer of his choosing, namely I.B., the same lawyer who had been assigned by the first-instance court.
17.  The last hearing before the appeal court was held on 30 November 2005.
18.  As the applicant did not return from Italy until 5 December 2005, he did not attend any of the hearings before the appeal court.
19.  By a decision of 23 December 2005 the Galați Court of Appeal partly allowed the appeal lodged by the prosecutor’s office and increased the applicant’s sentence to four years’ imprisonment. It dismissed the applicant’s appeal as unfounded. The appeal court acknowledged that the applicant had not been officially notified of the charges against him and he had likewise not been heard by either the investigating authorities or by the first‑instance court. It further held that this situation was the fault of the applicant, who had left the country on 25 June 2003 deliberately seeking to escape trial. The court noted that the investigating authorities had repeatedly visited his known domicile in Romania and had informed his wife about the criminal complaint lodged against him. Written reports had been issued on 2 and 4 August, 9, 15 and 16 September and 14 October 2003 in this respect.
20.  On 28 December 2005 the applicant appealed on points of law, arguing that his defence rights had been infringed on account of his absence during the investigation stage and the proceedings before the courts at the first two levels of jurisdiction. He claimed that he had not been aware of the proceedings because he had left the country for Italy before the criminal complaint had been lodged against him. He alleged that all the procedural steps taken by the investigating authorities and the courts had been null and void because they had been undertaken in his absence, and he therefore asked for the case to be referred to the investigating authorities for a re‑opening of the proceedings in his presence. He also claimed that fourteen out of twenty-seven cheques that he had allegedly issued without having the necessary funds in the companies’ accounts had been issued after 25 June 2003, while he had been abroad. He also contended that he had issued the cheques and the promissory notes before the companies’ accounts had been frozen and contested other elements of fact considered by the court of appeal in its decision of 23 December 2005, such as the date on which the public procurement contract had been cancelled. He alleged that the incorrect conclusions formulated by the appeal court had been based on the findings of the expert who had produced a technical report attached to the file.
21.  The applicant was present and was assisted by a lawyer of his choosing during the proceedings before the High Court of Cassation and Justice. He attended all the hearings but he was not heard by the court.
22.  At the last hearing the High Court of Cassation and Justice was addressed by the defence counsel and the prosecutor. It allowed the defendant to address it before the end of the hearing (ultimul cuvânt al inculpatului).
23.  On 18 October 2006 the High Court of Cassation and Justice dismissed the applicant’s appeal on points of law as unfounded. It acknowledged that the applicant “was not heard, was not informed about the charges against him and that he was not given the prosecution documents”. It held that the applicant could not rely on his absence from the proceedings by way of defence, because he had left the country on 25 June 2003 in order to avoid the investigation and the trial against him.
24.  The applicant served his prison sentence between 25 October 2006 and 3 December 2008, when he was released from prison on probation.
25.  In another set of criminal proceedings against the applicant for fraud in connection with similar acts – namely the issuance by the applicant of cheques after the companies’ accounts had allegedly been frozen – the Bacău Court of Appeal acquitted him. It noted that direct intent was an essential element of the offence of fraud under Article 215 § 4 of the CCP and from the evidence in the file it was apparent that the applicant had not acted with a direct intent to obtain an unjust advantage from the company in favour of which he had issued a cheque on 17 June 2003. It also held that the inability to pay for the merchandise bought by him from the company had been caused chiefly by circumstances arising after he had issued the cheque, namely the cancellation of the public procurement contract he had signed with the Ministry of Defence to provide food to a military unit. In its decision of 11 May 2006, the appeal court noted, among other things, the following:
“The fact that the applicant had left the country on 25 June 2003 is not enough to support the conclusion that he was trying to avoid the criminal investigation or the trial. On the contrary, the fact that the applicant had acted diligently in order to cover the damage caused by his acts and that he came back before the end of the criminal trial asking the appeal court to allow him to be heard, supports his defence that he had left for Italy to find work so that he could pay off the company’s debts.”
26.  On 22 May 2007 and in January 2008 the applicant lodged two criminal complaints against the expert who had prepared a technical expert report in the criminal proceedings against him (see paragraph 20 above). He alleged that the expert had made false allegations which had resulted in his conviction for fraud. On 24 December 2013 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Focșani District Court concerning the prosecutor’s decisions of 22 December 2009 and 29 November 2013 by which the criminal complaints against the expert had been discontinued.
It appears that the proceedings are still pending.